Spring foundation for davenports and the like



Aug. 16, 1960 E. F. BECHER EI'AL 2,949,156

SPRING FOUNDATION FOR DAVENPORTS AND THE LIKE Filed May 28, 1958 I v 5 7 INVENTOR. i gmnmr V L a /M .Jk

tried St SPRING FOUNDATION FOR DAVENPORTS AND THE LIKE Filed May 28, 1958, Ser. No. 738,394

6 Claims. (Cl. 155-179) This invention relates to spring foundations for multiple occupancy seats such as davenports, lounges and the like, and more particularly to such foundations in which individual spring foundation units are provided for the individual seating spaces.

Davenports are now constructed having individual spring units for the individual seating spaces, each such spring unit including a group of vertically acting helical compression springs surrounded and positionally secured toupper and lower horizontal wire border frames which are usually rectangular in plan and in which the front part of the lower frame is pivoted along a horizontal axis to the front rail of the davenport and its rear part of this lower frame is connected by horizontal helical tension springs to the rear rail of the davenport. Such a davenport with individual spring units has the advantages of providing two stages of springing and providing a larger vertical movement, the helical tension springs being heavier and permitting downward torsional movement of the unit and the lighter helical compression springs providing the direct or immediate cushioning. Further by resiliently supporting the rear ends of theunits containing internal springs, the rear parts of the units rise to ahigher level when unoccupied to improve the appearance by providing a high back when occupied but an apparently low back when unoccupied. The tension spring supports for the units also provide a comfortable downward inclination or pitch to the seating surface when occupied, this pitch reducing or disappearing, however, when the seat is unoccupied so as to present a flat surface appearance to the seat. Such tension spring support for the spring units also makes it easier to rise from the seat. Also the springing of the several seat spaces is independent so that one sitting down does not disturb a person already seated in the space alongside.

On the other hand, such independent individual spring units in a lounge or davenport have disadvantages. Thus the piece of furniture is not of normal appearance from the front because the spring supported seating surface is not in the form of an unbroken line across the front of the davenport but is divided into a series of upright projections having the appearance of a series of cushions. Also, these upright projections of the diflerent units can assume different elevations so that when viewed from the front, where such difference in elevations is particularly apparent because of the offsetting of the normally straight line formed by the front corners of the upright projections, the appearance is particularly unsightly. Also, when people of different weights are seated, the seating surface can have a stepped appearance along the front of the davenport.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a spring support or foundation for a multiple occupancy davenport having the above advantages but free from the above disadvantages.

Accordingly, the principal object is to provide such a spring foundation for a multiple occupany seat having individual seating units for the several seating spaces tes Patent Patented Aug. 16, 1960 which are pivoted to the front rail and connected by helical tension springs to the rear rail to provide deep movement at the back while at the same time providing two stages of springing which assist the occupant in rising from the seat and by such deep movement at the rear provide a high and restful back cushion while in use and a low and trim appearing back cushion when not in use, While still at the same time the front of the spring foundation is in the form of an uninterrupted vertical panel and uninterrupted front corner which imparts a conventional appearance to the spring foundation when upholstered and provides a continuous front line regardless of the number and weight of the occupants while still at the same time preserving the advantages of individual seat units in not disturbing an occupant when another, and particularly one much heavier, sits down alongside.

.Another object is to provide such a spring foundation in which the continuous front edge is soft and yielding.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a davenport or sofa having a seat foundation incorporating the principles of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view, partly broken away,

of the sofa of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view generally as seen along line 4-4 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view generally as seen along line 55 in- Fig. 3;

Fig; 6 is a view generally as seen along line 6-6 in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 7 is a view generally as seen along line 7-7 in Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral 8, identifies ajdavenport having an upholstered seat indicated generally at 9, a'plu'rality of rectangular cushions 10 loosely resting on this upholstered seat part, an upholstered back 11 and upholstered side arms 12. The seat part 9, which contains the spring foundation embodying the principles of the invention, incorporates three individual seat units 13 although two or more can be employed. Each of the seat units 13 includes a plurality of vertically acting coil compression springs 14 which are positionally maintained at their lower ends upon cross rods 16, and at their upper ends by means of pigtail wires 17. The outer rows of springs are aflixed at upper and lower ends to border wires in the form of upper and lower rectangular frames 18. While a pair of anti-sway rods 19 are shown as pivotally afiixed at each end to the top and bottom frames at the sides thereof.

The seat units 13 are supported by a horizontal rectangular frame consisting of a wooden front rail 21, a

wooden back rail 22 and a plurality of fore-and-aft side and intermediate rails 23 which are spacedequidistant and interconnect the front and back rails. Each individual seat unit 13 is pivotally secured, as by a plurality of U-shaped clips 15, to the front rail 21 and is connected to the back rail 22 by a plurality of generally horizontal helical tension springs 24. Such an arrangement allows each seat unit to swing downwardly about its pivoted front edge into the opening defined by portions of the front and back rails 21 and 22 respectively, and between adjacent fore-and-aft rails 23. In so doing, it will be apparent that each individual seat unit 13 has torque action, the rear end of each seat unit lowering to give pitch to the seat unit and the relatively powerful helical tension springs 24 assisting a sitter in arising from the seat unit since the energy stored in these springs 24 will urge the seat unit upwardly about its front pivot during rising movement of the sitter. In this connection these springs 24 are, of course, more powerful than the springs 14 so that two stage springing is provided. In addition, such movement of the seat units will provide two or three more inches of height of back 11 when the seat is occupied resulting in-better back support and contributing to improved posture.

The feature of the invention resides in the individual seat units 13 being interconnected by a horizontal bar or rod 26 which is arranged along and affixed to the border wires 18 at the upper front edges of the several seat units. The rod 26 not only assists in control of the torque action above described, but also provides a soft or yielding front edge, which contributes to the comfort of the sitter. This rod ties the several spring units together to impart a limited interaction but only at their front edges so as not to interfere with or diminish the advantages of the torque action of the individual units 13. In addition, the rod 26 provides an unbroken line along the front of the seat part 9, which permits easy upholstering and enhances the appearance of the davenport, particularly in rendering the seat 9 of conventional appearance both when occupied and when unoccupied.

In upholstering the seat 9, padding 27 of any type in commercial use is placed atop each individual spring unit 13, and a decking cloth 28 is arranged upon allthe seat units. The cloth 28 is formed with pockets 29 which extend downwardly between the seat units 13 to permit individual action of the seat units without tearing of the cover. Each pocket 29 is provided with downward extensions 31 which may be tacked to a fore-and-aft rail 23, thus allowing a secure and wrinkle-free anchoring of the deck cloth 28. Exterior upholstering material 32 is secured to the deck cloth 28 and is arranged to extend downwardly to cover the front or exposed portion of the seat 9 as an unbroken panel 33 extending from arm to arm from the rod 26 to the bottom of the front rail 21.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the spring foundation of the invention represents an improvement over the known prior art in the manner in which it satisfies the objectives set forth hereinbefore.

The foregoing description has been given in detail without thought of limitation since the inventitve principles involved are capable of assuming other physical embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A spring suspension for a multiple occupancy seat having a frame, comprising a plurality of single occupancy spring units each having a plurality of horizontally spaced vertically acting springs and border wires positionally maintaining said springs of each unit, means pivotally connecting the lower parts of fronts of said units to said frame to swing about a common horizontal axis parallel with said fronts, resilient means connecting the rear ends of said units to said frame to permit upward and downward movement of each individual unit about said axis substantially without disturbing the occupant of an ad jacent unit, and a horizontal rod arranged substantially directly above said axis along and secured to the upper front edges of said units to provide a continuous resilient iedge extending the full length of said spring suspension along the upper front corner thereof.

2. A spring suspension as set forth in claim 1 including upholstery having a continuous cloth front panel extending horizontally along said units substantially the full length of said seat suspension and having a continuous straight upper horizontal edge secured to said spring structure along said rod and extending vertically from said horizontal rod downwardly to said frame.

3. A spring suspension as set forth in claim 2 wherein said upholstery includes a decking cloth covering said spring units, said decking cloth being secured at its front edge to said spring suspension along said horizontal rod and being provided with downwardly extending pockets each of which is arranged between adjacent spring units, and means securing the bottoms of said pockets to said frame.

4. A spring suspension for a multiple occupancy seat having a frame including front, back and fore-and-aft rails, comprising a plurality of single occupancy spring units each arranged above a space provided by said rails and having a plurality of horizontally spaced vertically acting compression coil springs and upper and lower border wire frames positionally maintaining, respectively, the upper and lower parts of said springs of each unit, means pivotally connecting the front parts of the lower border wire frames of each unit to said front rail to swing about a common axis parallel with said front rail, helical tension springs connecting the rear parts of the lower border wire frames of each unit to said rear rails to permit upward and downward movement of each individual unit about said axis substantially without disturbing the occupant of an adjacent unit, and a horizontal rod arranged along and secured to and connecting the front endges of said upper border wire frames to provide a continuous resilient edge extending the full length of said spring suspension along the upper front corner thereof.

5. A spring suspension as set forth in claim 4 including upholstery having a continuous cloth front panel extending horizontally along the front of said units substantially the full length of said seat suspension and having a continuous straight upper horizontal edge secured to said spring structure along said rod and extending vertically from said horizontal rod downwardly to the bottom of said front rail.

6. A spring suspension as set forth in claim 5 wherein said upholstery includes a decking cloth covering said spring units, said decking cloth being secured at its front edge to said spring suspension along said horizontal rod and being provided with downwardly extending pockets each of which is arranged between adjacent spring units, and means securing the bottom of each pocket to the corresponding fore-and-aft rail.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,343,620 Gainer June 15, 1920 2,101,054 Eaton Dec. 7, 1937 2,268,843 Nusinow Jan. 6, 1942 

